The Maillot Jaune Road Race is one of my focus races of the year. It's a hilly race, with a couple of decent climbs (decent for SE Michigan) and for us Cat 4 racers will consist of 3 laps of a 13 mile loop. I had the pleasure of checking out the course yesterday with three of the fellas from the team. We rode a couple laps of the course to do some recon and put in another 40ish miles getting to and from the course.
I had to ride my cross bike, which was a drag. The LOOK is basically in pieces, it needs a new crankset and BB. If it's not fixed before Friday, I will be racing my cross bike, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. The gearing just takes some getting used to (46/36).
The course has the type of hills that sprinter-types have trouble with because they are too long to power up, yet are too short for pure climbers to gain an advantage. These are the type of hills I like.
The only problem is, the roads are shit. There are several stretches of "Michigan Pave" (chip seal and potholes). These occur all over the course, on uphills and descents, making for an interesting race. Maybe the 'cross bike is the best option...
I'm looking forward to this race next Saturday and it's one of my target races. I'm shooting to crack the top ten. I think my form is coming around, so we'll see if I have the fitness.
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